24 of 25Ford GT40s were prevalent throughout this year's Le Mans Classic.

Photo by DIRK de JAGER

25 of 25The rolling start for Grid 4 had Ford GT40s and Cobra’s as far as the eye can see.

Photo by DIRK de JAGER

Nearly 110,000 spectators braved persistent and heavy rain to witness hundreds of classic race cars once more roar around the Le Mans circuit. The event brought together 450 racing cars competing in six categories and another 8,000 classic cars for static displays. This is by far the largest vintage-racing event in the world with a gathering of devotees at the ultimate temple of sports-car worship.

The theme this year was America and its rich contribution to Le Mans history. There are, of course, the famous American conquests of Circuit de la Sarthe: Briggs Cunningham's gallant attempts and Ford's armylike onslaught with the GT40, which led to the first U.S. victory in 1966. But few know that the first Ford to compete at Le Mans, modified by Frenchman Charles Montier, took part in the first two editions in 1923 and '24; that the first Duesenberg seen in the Sarthe was entered in 1933 by Prince Nicholas of Romania, or that a Chevrolet Corvette first won the more than 5.0-liter class in 1972. All weren't big-bangers either, as evidenced by a 726-cc Crosley entered in 1951.

A much-appreciated bonus this year was the visit of the Ferrari 250 GTO gathering, which takes place every five years in France. There were 18 GTOs that stopped by to parade on their 50th anniversary.

A special parade honoring the memory of Carroll Shelby was led by the Aston Martin DBR1 that he and Roy Salvadori, who also passed away this year, drove to victory in 1959. Other cars in the tribute included a 1967 Mk IV specially flown in from the U.S., Cobras, of course, and GT40s and Mustangs.

Grid 1 (1923-39)

Many former 24-hour winners took part in the racing, but this grid included five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell driving a supercharged 4.5-liter Bentley, a car predating his own era by 40 years. Talbot Lagos, Delahayes and Delages mixed in with Rileys, Singers and Amilcars against Bugattis and Bentleys. The race, however, was dominated by the Talbot 105 AYL 2 of Gareth Burnett Richard Evans and Alex Ames. A stock 1929 Chrysler 75 brought from the United States by David Eichenbaum was certainly a different way to highlight past participations from across the pond.

Grid 2 (1949-56)

Brit Alex Buncombe stormed race one in his Jaguar C-type before being penalized in race two, which was won by the Mercedes-Benz 300SL of Frenchman Peter Mulder and Germans Patrick Simon and Hans Kleissl. Gavin Pickering's D-type won the final race. A Maserati 300S was badly damaged in one of the few incidents, but the driver walked away without injury.

Grid 3 (1957-61)

The astonishingly nimble and rapid Lotus 15s were on pole and won two of the three races, one of them with Audi Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro driving while Buncombe—him again—won race two with Derek Hood. The 1955 24-hour winning D-type finished fifth in the race driven by Anthony Reid.

Curiosities included a Peerless GT, i.e. a TR3 with tubular chassis and fiberglass coupé body, a pair of CD Panhards looking like woolly slipper roller skates and a hilarious screaming two-stroke 750-cc Saab, as loud as it was slow and endearing.

Grid 4 (1962-65)

A GT40 freight train ruled Grid 4 with 10 cars in the mix, half of them being driven really quickly. Pole position as well as each race were won by a different GT40. The Cobra of David Hart managed to come second in races two and three. Cobras, Elva GT160s and Iso A3Cs came next, along with E-types, while a Ferrari 250 LM and five 275 GTBs provided the perfect soundtrack. Morgan +4's and Spitfires made for mobile chicanes.

Grid 5 (1966-71)

Here we found Steve McQueen's movie territory with three each of Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s. Gary Pearson dominated race one in Carlos Monteverde's Porsche 917 and seeing him lap the whooshing Howmet turbine car was a surreal time-warp moment. Behind him, the 1969 7-liter Corvette of Franz Metzger was absolutely flying, briefly holding second place. It finished third, one second behind a 5-liter Lola T70 and three-tenths of a second ahead of a waifish sleek 3-liter Alpine A220.

The Spica fuel-injected engine had plenty of dyno time and none other than Brian Redman was at the wheel on his first visit to the Sarthe since 1989.

Grid 6 (1972-79)

Here we found a surprise winner in the most modern group, the Alain de Cadenet Lola T380 built by the eponymous racer turned commentator. Even more surprising was the car that finished 11th—a Ford Gran Torino looking lost in translation from Talladega. The night race started simultaneously with a massive rain shower. This one finished under a deluge worthy of Sebring, but to see them roar by at 4 a.m. in the far reaches of the circuit was the perfect time warp. A Chevron B36 driven by the skilled Martin O'Connell and Sandy Watson won the regatta. Race three went to American Chris McAllister in his Gulf Mirage with the fastest lap of the weekend at 4:06.638 at an average of 123 mph.

It was amusing to compare lap times among grids: The slowest qualifying time of all was of course in grid one. The time for the 1928 Stutz Blackhawk of the U.S. Holman family was 16.03.951, so it would have been lapped almost four times per lap by the aptly named Mirage!

The concours (reserved to cars having taken part in the past) excellence award was won by the legendary ex-Briggs Cunningham 1950 Cadillac “Le Monstre” sent all the way from Miles Collier's collection in Naples, Fla.

While the majority of the crowd will never dress up in period attire like at Goodwood, there were more people making the effort this year while the 1950s and '60s music—which included quaint Brigitte Bardot songs—was appreciated, and dance floors were full each evening, nostalgia for a more carefree era in full bloom.